Yes indeed it does. The owner is responsible for submitting plans for approval under the Building Act 1984 and failure to do so constitutes a criminal offence. Whilst he usually passes on responsibility to the contractor for this he cannot pass on the criminal liability. If the conversion has been carried out in compliance with Building Regulations then it is unlikely that the building control officers will prosecute the offence, but they cannot give you a completion certificate. Without a completion certificate you will find it quite hard to sell the units. It used to be rare for purchasers to ask to see completion certificates but since the Cottingham case (Cottingham and Cottingham -v- Attey Bower and Jones (a firm) 2000) they have become a standard requirement. Cottingham concerned a purchase where the solicitor negligently failed to advise his clients of the risks attached to purchasing with no completion certificate. The property was in fact deemed unsafe by building control officers who required expensive remedial works to be carried out by the purchasers. This requirement was backed up by injunctive powers. <p></p><p> Your particular problem can be dealt with by speaking to the building control officers, submitting retrospective plans for …